Electrical lock and indicator system



Sept. 9, 1947'. w. BILLMAN 2,427,040

, ELECTRICAL LOCK AND INDICATOR SYSTEM 7 Filed July 17, 1945 IN VENTOR. zzzzaerrz'zz n.

ATTORNE Yd -v Patented Sept. 9, 1947 ELECTRICAL LOCK. AND nsnroa'ron SYSTEM Walter Billman, Philadelphia, Pa. Application July 17,1945, Serial No. 605,546

1 Claim.

This invention appertains to an electrical lock and indicator system, and has for one of its several objects to provide an electrically operated means to effectthe simultaneous locking and unlocking the locks of two or more doors, particularly the doors of an automobile, from a single point of control, i. .e, the instrument board or steering column in the case of an automobile, in order that the opening and closing of the doors may be effected, except in cases of extreme emergency, only at the direction of the person in charge.

Another object of the invention has to do with the provision of a visual telltale means in the control circuit of the lock system, to indicate the locked or unlocked condition of each of the doors equipped with the electrically controlled locks.

A further object of the invention lies in the provision of a manually actuated means for emer gency use, in unlocking any one of the doors,

after they have previously been electrically locked from the point of control.

With these and other objects and advantages in view, the invention resides in the certain new and useful combination, construction, and arrangement of parts and circuits, as will be hereinafter more fully described, set forth in the appended claim, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure l is a vertical transverse section through the top part of a door of an automobile and the which may be locked and unlocked in theusual manner, i. e., with a key; of the front right hand door as at present. This latch device is comprised in a tubular casing l0 which is preferably mounted in the top edge of a door opening of .the automobile body B, with its outer open end set flush with the surface of that edge. Slidable in the open end of the casing 10, is a latch bolt l2 which hasits outer end oppositely beveled, as at It, for riding over a similarly beveled keeper l6, fastened, as by the screws l8, to the top edge of the door. The inner end of the latch bolt I2, is formed to provide a reduced extension 2a, which projects outwardly through an aperture, formed centrally of a wall at the inner end of the casing l0. Engaged 0n the extension til, within the casing to, is a coiled spring 22, which allows for automatic keeper engaging and disengaging movements of thelatch bolt It; the spring adjacent portion of thebody thereof, showing the lock structure, partly in cross-section and partly in side elevation;

Figure 2 is an inner sid elevation, partly in section, of the automobile door and body parts of Figure 1, showing the lock and the electromagnetically controlled locking bolt therefor in broken outline and the circuit and switch connections for the latter in unbroken lines;

Figure 3 is a diagrammatical view of the circuit connections of a three door lock and indicator system;

Figure 4 is a sectional detail, partly in elevation, showing the relative positions of the locking bolt and the emergency release plunger therefor; and r Figure 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary, detail, in side elevation, of the latch and lock bolts at their engaged positions.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the inven.

' tion, as it is exemplified therein, is embodied, in

part, in a latch device for each door A of an automobile, for instance, a four door type thereof, except the door nearest the driver's seat,

being under compression, with its rear end bearing against the rear end wall of the casing and its forward end against the inner end of the larger portion of the latch bolt. The movements of the latch bolt I2, relatively to the casing ltl, are limited by means or a pin 2t, projecting sidewise from the latch bolt and outwardly through a slot 2!, formed longitudinally in the side wall of the casing; the pin, additionally, acting as a guide to maintain the beveled outer end it, of the latch bolt, in proper position to engage with and, disengage from the keeper it.

Formed in the side wall right angles to the slot M, is an opening which is screw threaded to receive an end of a tube 28, of anon-magnetic metal, in which a movable core 30 is supported for sliding movements and about which are two windings 32 and t l, to form a plunger-magnet, or solenoid. The movable core or plunger 30 constitutes a locking bolt for the latch bolt l2 and, to such end, the latter is provided with a notch or recess 36 to be engaged by ,the inner end of the core or plunger, in one of the operative positions thereof, thus holding the latch bolt against movement when its beveled end I4 is engaged with the keeper it. The windings- 32 and 34 are oppositely wound and are positioned on the tube 28 in a manner that the lock the latch bolt 12 against movement.

of the casing til, at

. 3 Cooperative with the plunger-magnet or solenoid of each'of the door locks to be electrically controlled, is an automatic switching means, which i comprised in a spring contact arm 88, that is grounded, as at 48, and is supported from one of its ends in the path of movement of the core or plunger 38 and has its other end movable between a pair of stationary contacts 42 and 44. With the core or plunger 38 disposed in locking engagement with the latch bolt I2, the contact arm 38 is engaged with the stationary contact 42 and, upon the energizing of thewinding 32, the core or plunger is caused to disengage from the latch bolt and is moved toward and against the contact arm, forcing it from the stationary contact 42 and over against the stationary contact 44. With the opening of the contact 42, the circuit is broken on the winding 32, as well as on a set of indicator devices, such as the lamps 54, 58, and 58, so that there is no drainage of current from the battery 88, at this time, the lamps, when lighted, indicating the locked state of the doors. Thus, the unlocked condition of the doors will be indicated when the lamps are extinguished, and the contact arm 38 will remain engaged with the stationary contact .44, until the core or plunger 30 is actuated in a reversed direction, which is accomplished by the energizing of the winding 34. With the return movement of the core or plunger 30 to locking engagement with the latch bolt [2, the contact arm 38 snaps back into engagement with the stationary contact 42, closing the circuit on the lamps 54, 56, and 58, and the winding 32.

.In order to energize the windings 32 and 34, to control the locking and unlocking of the door latching bolts l2 and the lighting and extinguishing of the lamps, each of the windings 32 has one of its terminals connected by a conductor 46 to one of a group of three stationary contacts 48', arranged in cooperative relation with a movable contact member 48, and its other terminal, by a conductor 58, to a stationary contact 42, of the aforesaid automatic switching means. The mov-,

able contact member 48, in turn, is connected, by a conductor 52, to one side each of the lamps 54, 56, and 58, the ignition switch S and the battery 68 of the automobile, and to a ground 82. One terminal of each of the windings 34 is connected, by a conductor 64, to one of a second group of three stationary contacts 48", associated with the movable contact member 48, while the other terminal thereof is connected by a conductor 66, to a' stationary contact 44, and the opposite sides of the indicator lamps are each separately connected, by a conductor 68, to a stationary contact 42, of the automatic switching means.

With the switch member 48 engaged with the contacts 48', the cores or plungers 38 will have forced the contact arms 38 from engagement with the stationary contacts 42 and into engage ment with the stationary contacts 44, where they will be held until released by a reversed movement of the cores or plungers, which movement is to be effected by moving the switch member 48 onto the other group of stationary contacts 48", when the cores or plungers 38 will be moved to the left as viewed in Figure 3, by the energizing of the windings 34, and into engagement with the notches 36, in the latch' bolts l2. When released by the cores or plungers 38, the contact arms 38 will snap back against the stationary contacts 42 and'close the circuit on the lamps 54, 58, and 58, to light the same and thereby give indication that the doors are locked.

If desired, however, the doors may be held closed by the use of the latch bolts I2 only, temporarily at least, without resort to the looking bolts 88, in which case, the latter will be set at their unlocked positions to hold the contact arms 38 on the stationary contacts 44 and thereafter the movable switch member 48 put on open circuit, when all of the windings 32 and 34 will be deenergized and the lamps 54, 58, and 58, extinguished. In this instance, the doors may be opened and closed merely by pulling and pushing the same, since the latch bolts I2 will snap past the keepers i8, in each direction of door movement, by reason of the camlike action therebetween; suitable hand grips (not shown) being provided on the outer sides of the doors for the purpose, with the hand grips in no way connected with the latch bolts. However, with the latch bolts l2 secured against movement by the locking bolts 38, the doors cannot, under any circumstances, be opened from either the outside or the inside of the automobile, until the locking bolts 38 are released from the latch bolts at the will of the driver, or, in cases of extreme emergency, by the independent release of the locking bolts from inside the automobile, as will presently be explained.

In operation, with the three doors locked, as indicated by the lamps 54, 58 and 58, being on closed circuit as in Figure 3, to unlock the latch bolts I2 at all three of the doors, the driver will manipulate the switch member 48 from its oil position to successively bridge the several stationary contacts 48', after first having closed the ignition switch S, when current will flow from the battery 60, by way of the ignition switch S, the conductor 52, the switch member 48, the contacts 48', the conductors 46, the windings 32, the conductors 58, the stationary contacts 42, the spring contact arms 38, the grounds 40 and 62, and back to the battery. With the energizing of the windings 32, the cores or locking bolts 88 will be withdrawn 1 from engagement with the notches 36, in the latch bolts l2, thus releasing the latch bolts for freedom of movement, as before stated. In their withdrawing movements, the cores or looking bolts 38 will engage with the contact arms 38 and force them from the stationary contacts 42 and into engagement with the stationary contacts 44, thus extinguishing the lamps and de-energizing the windings 32. To

lock the latch bolts l2v and, consequently, the

doors, the driver will move the switch member 48 onto the group of stationary contacts 48", after having closed the ignition switch S, when the current will flow from the battery 60, by way of the conductor 52, the switch member 48, the stationary contacts 48", the conductors 64, the windings 34, the conductors 66, the stationary contacts 44, the spring contact arms 38, the grounds 48 and 62, and back to battery. With the energizing of the windings 34, the cores or looking bolts 38 will be moved into engagement with the notches 36, in the latch bolts l2, and

out of engagement with the spring arms 38, when vided in the bottom porting frame 14, fastened to the casing 10, by

means of screws 16, and provided with an operating knob 18, at its outer end. The inner end of I the plunger 12 is beveled, as at 80, to engage beneath the end of the locking'bolt 30, to forcibly dis-engage the same from the notch 36, thus freeing the latch bolt II, to allow the particular door to be opened; a shallow groove 32 being proof the notch 36, to facilitate beveled end to pass beneath the engaged'end of the locking bolt 30. When the plunger 12 is freed from the hand pressure, a coiled spring 84, engaged on the same, between the casing l0 and a collar 86, fixed on the plunger inwardly of the outer end of the frame 14, acts to return the plunger to its normally inoperative position, with its inner end disengaged from the latch bolt l2.

Without further description, it is thought to be obviousthat the disclosed embodiment of my invention provides for a maximum of safety to the passengers, particularly children, in automobile travel, especially with regard to the prevention of accidents resulting from the opening of the doors adjacent the seats of the occupants,

other than the driver, while the automobile is in motion. Also, it is to be understood that changes in design and minor details of construction and arrangement of the devices, both mechanical and electrical, may be resorted to, without departing from the limitations to be determined from the scope of the ap ended claim.

What I claim is:

and the first-named side In an electrically controlled lock system an automatic latch device mounted in an edge of the door opening, a plunger-magnet for engaging the latch to lock the same and for disengaging therefrom a first coil having one end connected to a first contact and when energized moving the plunger to retracting position, a second coil havme one end connected to a second contact and when energized moving the plunger from said position to latch-locking position, a source of current, a first switch when closed connecting one side of the source to the other end of the first coil, indicating means connected to the first contact of the source, a resilient contact arm normally contacting the first contact and connected to the other side second switch when closed connecting the firstnamed side of the source to the other end of the second coil, and means carried by the plunger for moving the contact of the arm from the first contact to the second contact during the retraction of the plunger from the latch.

' WALTER B REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 4,330,945 Kuhn Feb. 1'7, 1920 2,006,624 Block July 2, 1935 2,031,523 Braren Feb. 18, 1936' 2,082,449 Hansen June 1, 1937 2,156,387 Goldflnger May 2, 1939 2,222,553 Raymond Nov. 19, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 661,15! France Mar. 4, 1929 316,334 Italy Apr. 4, 1934 of the source, a 

